Semiconductor memory devices, memory systems, and methods of operating semiconductor memory devices

ABSTRACT

A method includes replacing an address of a first normal memory cell in a first column of a first memory block with a destination address that is an address of a second normal memory cell in a second column of the first memory block, and reassigning the address of the second normal memory cell in the second column of the first memory block to an address of a first redundancy memory cell in a redundancy block of the memory device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This U.S. application claims the benefit of priority under 35 USC § 119to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2018-0036291, filed on Mar. 29, 2018to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2018-0079345, filed on Jul. 9, 2018,to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2018-0119317, filed on Oct. 5, 2018and to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2019-0011563, filed on Jan. 30,2019 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures ofwhich are incorporated by reference in their entirety herein.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to memories, and more particularly tosemiconductor memory devices, methods of operating semiconductor memorydevices and memory systems.

Semiconductor chips are manufactured through semiconductor manufacturingprocesses, and then tested by a test device in a wafer, a die, or apackage state. Defective portions of defective chips are selectedthrough a test, and if some of memory cells are defective, repairoperations are performed to save semiconductor chips. Currently,semiconductor chips such as dynamic random access memories (DRAMs) havecontinued to be reduced in size through fine processes, and accordingly,the possibility of errors occurring during the manufacturing process hasincreased. In addition, if defects are not detected through initial testprocesses, errors may occur during chip operations.

One way to correct errors is by using redundancy memory blocks, whichincludes an array of memory cells that serve as backup cells for cellsin normal memory blocks that fail. However, adding redundancy memoryblocks typically increases the overall size of the memory cell array andmemory chip. Therefore, it would be beneficial to perform redundancy ina manner that allows for a smaller increase in the size of a memorychip.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, a repair control circuit in a semiconductor memory devicemay repair a fail cell in at least one of memory blocks with at leastone normal cell in the same memory block at least once and may replacethe normal cell using a redundancy cell in a redundancy block.Therefore, the semiconductor memory device may use redundancy resourcesin the redundancy block with greater efficiency.

According to exemplary embodiments, which may be part of one of more ofthe embodiments described elsewhere in this summary, a method replaces amemory cell in a first column of a memory block in a memory deviceincluding a plurality of memory blocks and at least a first redundancyblock. The method includes replacing an address of a first normal memorycell in a first column of a first memory block with a destinationaddress that is an address of a second normal memory cell in a secondcolumn of the first memory block, and reassigning the address of thesecond normal memory cell in the second column of the first memory blockto an address of a first redundancy memory cell in a redundancy block ofthe memory device.

According to exemplary embodiments, which may be part of one of more ofthe embodiments described elsewhere in this summary, a memory deviceincludes a plurality of memory blocks including a first memory block,each memory block including a plurality of columns of normal memorycells, at least a first redundancy block, the first redundancy blockincluding a plurality of columns of redundancy memory cells, and arepair control circuit. The repair control circuit is configured tocause a second column of normal memory cells of the first memory blockto serve as a destination column for a first column of normal memorycells of the first memory block, and to cause a first column ofredundancy memory cells of the redundancy memory block to store datadestined for the second column of normal memory cells of the firstmemory block.

According to exemplary embodiments, which may be part of one of more ofthe embodiments described elsewhere in this summary, a memory deviceincludes a plurality of memory blocks including a first memory block,each memory block including a plurality of columns of normal memorycells, at least a first redundancy block, the first redundancy blockincluding a plurality of columns of redundancy memory cells, and arepair control circuit. The repair control circuit is configured toreplace a first normal memory cell in a first column of the first memoryblock with a second normal memory cell in a second column of the firstmemory block, and to replace the second normal memory cell of the secondcolumn of the first memory block by using a first redundancy memory cellin a first column of redundancy memory cells of the first redundancyblock. Replacing the second normal memory cell by using the firstredundancy memory cell may include causing the first redundancy memorycell to store data destined for the second normal memory cell.

According to exemplary embodiments, which may be part of one of more ofthe embodiments described elsewhere in this summary, a memory deviceincludes a plurality of memory blocks including a first memory block,each memory block including a plurality of columns of normal memorycells, at least a first redundancy block, the first redundancy blockincluding a plurality of columns of redundancy memory cells, and arepair control circuit. The repair control circuit is configured toreplace a first normal memory cell in a first column of the first memoryblock with a second normal memory cell in a second column of the firstmemory block, and to replace the second normal memory cell of the secondcolumn of the first memory block by using a first redundancy memory cellin a first column of redundancy memory cells of the first redundancyblock. Replacing the second normal memory cell by using the firstredundancy memory cell may include replacing the second normal memorycell with a third normal memory cell in a first column of a secondmemory block of the memory device, and replacing a normal memory cellfrom among the second normal memory cell and other normal memory cellsof the second memory block or other memory blocks of the memory devicewith the first redundancy memory cell.

According to exemplary embodiments, which may be part of one of more ofthe embodiments described elsewhere in this summary, a memory deviceincludes a plurality of memory blocks including a first memory block,each memory block including a plurality of columns of normal memorycells, at least a first redundancy block, the first redundancy blockincluding a plurality of columns of redundancy memory cells, and arepair control circuit. The repair control circuit is configured toreplace a first normal memory cell in a first column of the first memoryblock with a second normal memory cell in a second column of the firstmemory block, and to replace the second normal memory cell of the secondcolumn of the first memory block by using a first redundancy memory cellin a first column of redundancy memory cells of the first redundancyblock. Replacing the second normal memory cell by using the firstredundancy memory cell may include replacing the second normal memorycell with a third normal memory cell in a first column of a secondmemory block of the memory device, and replacing a normal memory cellfrom among the second normal memory cell and other normal memory cellsof the second memory block or other memory blocks of the memory devicewith the first redundancy memory cell.

According to exemplary embodiments, which may be part of one of more ofthe embodiments described elsewhere in this summary, a memory device,includes a plurality of normal memory blocks including a first memoryblock, each normal memory block including a plurality of columns ofnormal memory cells, at least a first redundancy block, the firstredundancy block including a plurality of columns of redundancy memorycells, a plurality of column select lines for selecting the plurality ofcolumns of the normal memory cells and the plurality of columns of theredundancy memory cells, each column select line associated with acolumn address, and a repair control circuit. The repair control circuitis configured to replace a first source address with a first destinationaddress, wherein the first source address is the address of a firstcolumn select line connected to a first column of memory cells of thefirst memory block, and the first destination address is the address ofa second column select line connected to a second column of memory cellsof the first memory block, and replace the address of the second columnselect line with an address of a first column select line connected to afirst column of the redundancy block.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Exemplary embodiments will be described below in more detail withreference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a memory system according toexemplary embodiments.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram illustrating an example of the semiconductormemory device in FIG. 1 according to exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 2B illustrates a portion of the semiconductor memory device of FIG.2A according to exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a portion of the semiconductormemory device in FIG. 2A according to exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 4A is a block diagram illustrating an example of a first unitrepair controller in the semiconductor memory device of FIG. 3 accordingto exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 4B is a circuit diagram illustrating an example of the columnselection line driver in the first unit repair controller in FIG. 4A.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the redundancyrepair controller in the semiconductor memory device of FIG. 3 accordingto exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 6A illustrates a repair operation performed in the semiconductormemory device of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6B illustrates a repair operation performed in the semiconductormemory device of FIG. 2B.

FIG. 6C illustrates data input/out when the repair operation in FIG. 6Ais performed.

FIG. 6D illustrates data input/out when the repair operation in FIG. 6Bis performed.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of the address storage table in the firstunit redundancy repair controller in FIG. 4A.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of the address storing tablein FIG. 7.

FIGS. 9A to 9C are diagrams for describing methods of replacing a failcell with a normal cell in the same memory block and replacing thenormal cell with a redundancy cell.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating a method of operating asemiconductor memory device according to exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating another example of thesemiconductor memory device in the memory system of FIG. 1 according toexemplary embodiments.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of the first bank array in thesemiconductor memory device of FIG. 11.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a repair control circuitincluded in each of the bank column decoders in the semiconductor memorydevice of FIG. 12 according to exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example of the fail address storage table in therepair control circuit of FIG. 13 according to exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 15 illustrates a portion of the semiconductor memory device of FIG.11 according to exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 16A illustrates a repair operation performed in the semiconductormemory device of FIG. 15 according to exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 16B illustrates another example of the first bank array in thesemiconductor memory device of FIG. 15.

FIG. 16C illustrates another example of the first bank array in thesemiconductor memory device of FIG. 15.

FIG. 17A illustrates an example of the address storage table in therepair control circuit of FIG. 13 according to exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 17B illustrates an example that reduces a number of fusesassociated with a repair operation according to example embodiments.

FIG. 17C illustrates another example that reduces a number of fusesassociated with a repair operation according to example embodiments.

FIG. 17D illustrates an example that implements the example of FIG. 17Cin detail.

FIG. 17E illustrates an example of a unit repair controller according toexample embodiments.

FIG. 17F illustrates another example of a unit repair controlleraccording to example embodiments.

FIG. 17G illustrates another example of a unit repair controlleraccording to example embodiments.

FIG. 17H illustrates another example of a unit repair controlleraccording to example embodiments.

FIG. 18 is a flow chart illustrating a method of operating asemiconductor memory device according to exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram illustrating a semiconductor memory deviceaccording to exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 20 is a cross-sectional view of a 3D chip structure employing thesemiconductor memory device of FIG. 19 according to exemplaryembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various exemplary embodiments will be described more fully hereinafterwith reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplaryembodiments are shown.

As seen in various claims and in the specification, certain itemsdescribed herein are described using the naming convention of “first,”“second,” “third,” etc. Unless the context indicates otherwise, theseterms are only used to distinguish different items from each other anddo not necessarily indicate a physical positioning or operationalordering of the items. Thus, different naming terms, such as “first,”“second,” etc., may be used to refer to a particular item or object,either in the specification or in different claims, depending on thecontext of the discussion.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a memory system according toexemplary embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 1, a memory system 20 may include a memory controller100 and a semiconductor memory device 200.

The memory controller 100 may control overall operation of the memorysystem 20. The memory controller 100 may control overall data exchangebetween an external host and the semiconductor memory device 200. Forexample, the memory controller 100 may write data in the semiconductormemory device 200 or read data from the semiconductor memory device 200in response to a request from the host. In addition, the memorycontroller 100 may issue operation commands to the semiconductor memorydevice 200 for controlling the semiconductor memory device 200.

In some embodiments, the semiconductor memory device 200 is a memorydevice including dynamic memory cells such as a dynamic random accessmemory (DRAM), double data rate 4 (DDR4) synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), a lowpower DDR4 (LPDDR4) SDRAM or a LPDDR5 SDRAM.

The memory controller 100 transmits a clock signal CLK, a command CMDand an address (signal) ADDR to the semiconductor memory device 200 andexchanges data DQ with the semiconductor memory device 200.

The semiconductor memory device 200 includes a memory cell array 300that stores the data DQ, a control logic circuit 210, and a repaircontrol circuit 400. The memory cell array 300 may include a pluralityof memory blocks and at least one redundancy block.

The control logic circuit 210 controls an access to the memory cellarray 300 based on the command CMD and the address ADDR, and the repaircontrol circuit 400 may repair and therefore replace a fail cell in afirst memory block of the plurality of memory block with a normal cellin the first memory block and may replace the first normal cell with aredundancy cell in the redundancy block. Therefore, the repair controlcircuit 400 may use redundancy resources in the redundancy block withgreater efficiency.

For example, the repair control circuit 400 may replace a memory cell inone memory block with a normal cell in the same memory block at leastonce and may then replace the normal cell with a redundancy cell. Thus,instead of simply repairing a fail cell with only redundancy cells, afirst replaced memory cell may be a fail cell which may be repaired witha normal cell, and that normal cell may be replaced with a redundancycell, or may be replaced with other normal cells, such that a finalnormal cell in a series of replacement normal cells is replaced with aredundancy cell. Therefore, the repair control circuit 400 may useredundancy resources in the redundancy block with greater efficiency.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram illustrating an example of the semiconductormemory device in FIG. 1 according to exemplary embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 2A, a semiconductor memory device 200 a may include acontrol logic circuit 210 a, an address buffer 251, a repair controlcircuit 400 a, a row decoder 261, an input/output (I/O) gating circuit290 a, a data I/O buffer 296 and a memory cell array 301.

The control logic circuit 210 a receives the command CMD and the accessaddress ADDR. The control logic circuit 210 a may control operation ofthe semiconductor memory device 200 a based on the command CMD theaccess address ADDR. The control logic circuit 210 a may control the rowdecoder 261, the I/O gating circuit 290 a and the repair control circuit400 a based on the command CMD the address ADDR.

The address buffer 251 receives the access address ADDR, provides a rowaddress RADDR of the access address ADDR to the row decoder 261 andprovides a column address CADDR of the access address ADDR to the repaircontrol circuit 400 a. The repair control circuit 400 a may repair thefail cell in one memory block with a normal cell in the same memoryblock at least once and may replace the normal cell with a redundancycell based on a comparison of the column address CADDR with a failcolumn address stored therein.

The row decoder 261 is coupled to the memory cell array 301 throughword-lines WLs and the I/O gating circuit 290 a is coupled to the memorycell array 301 through bit-lines BTLs. The data I/O buffer 296receives/transmits data DQ with the memory controller 100 through theI/O gating circuit 290 a.

FIG. 2B illustrates a portion of the semiconductor memory device of FIG.2A according to exemplary embodiments.

In FIG. 2B, the memory cell array 301, the I/O gating circuit 290 a, thedata I/O buffer 296 and the repair control circuit 400 a areillustrated.

Referring to FIG. 2B, the memory cell array 301 includes a normal cellarray NCA and a redundancy cell array RCA, the normal cell array NCAincludes a plurality of memory blocks MB0, MB1, MB2 and MB3 and theredundancy cell array RCA includes at least one redundancy block RMB.The normal cell array RCA includes memory cells MCs coupled to aword-line WL and bit-lines BTLs and the redundancy block RMB includesredundancy cells RMCs coupled to the word-line WL and redundancybit-lines RBTLs.

The I/O gating circuit 290 a includes a plurality of I/O circuits 291 a,291 b, 291 c and 291 d and 291 e and a plurality of column selectioncircuits 293 a˜293 e and the column selection circuits 293 a˜293 e mayconnect one of the I/O circuits 291 a˜291 e to respective one of thememory blocks MB0˜MB3 and the redundancy block RMB. Each of the columnselection circuits 293 a˜293 e may include a plurality of columnselection transistors 294 a˜294 d, and the plurality of column selectiontransistors 294 a˜294 d connect a plurality of bit-lines or a bit-linein a corresponding memory block or in the redundancy block RMB tocorresponding I/O circuit in response to column selection line signalsCSLa˜CSLe respectively. The plurality of I/O circuits 291 a˜291 e may becoupled to the data I/O buffer 296 through data lines GIO in response toa first control signal CTL1 from the control logic circuit 210 a.

Although not illustrated, the column selection line signal CSLb may beapplied to the column selection circuit 293 b, the column selection linesignal CSLc may be applied to the column selection circuit 293 c, thecolumn selection line signal CSLd may be applied to the column selectioncircuit 293 d, and the column selection line signal CSLe may be appliedto the column selection circuit 293 e.

The repair control circuit 400 a may provide corresponding one of thecolumn selection line signals CSLa˜CSLe to respective one of the columnselection circuits 293 a˜293 e in response to the access column addressCADDR. The access column address CADDR is provided from the addressbuffer 251 in FIG. 2A, and the access column address CADDR is an addressto designate one bit-line without considering at least one fail cell inthe memory blocks MB0˜MB3. Each of the column selection line signalsCSLa˜CSLd is a signal to select corresponding bit-lines simultaneouslyin the memory blocks MB0˜MB3 based on the access column address CADDR.The semiconductor memory device 200 a may simultaneously input andoutput data having a size corresponding to a burst length in response toeach of the column selection line signals CSLa˜CSLd.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a portion of the semiconductormemory device in FIG. 2A according to exemplary embodiments.

In FIG. 3, the memory cell array 301, the I/O gating circuit 290 a, therepair control circuit 400 a and the data I/O buffer 296 areillustrated. When FIG. 3 is compared with the FIG. 2B, the repaircontrol circuit 400 a is illustrated in detail, and there will bedescription on the repair control circuit 400 a mainly.

Referring to FIG. 3, the memory cell array 301 includes the normal cellarray NCA and the redundancy cell array RCA, the normal cell array NCAincludes the plurality of memory blocks MB0, MB1, MB2 and MB3 and theredundancy cell array RCA includes at least one redundancy block RMB.The normal cell array RCA includes memory cells coupled to a word-lineWL and bit-lines and the redundancy block RMB includes redundancy cellscoupled to the word-line and redundancy bit-lines.

The repair control circuit 400 a may include a plurality of unit repaircontrollers 401 a˜401 d and a redundancy repair controller 401 e, andthe unit repair controllers 401 a˜401 d and the redundancy repaircontroller 401 e correspond to the memory blocks MB0, MB1, MB2 and MB3and the redundancy block RMB. The repair control circuit 400 a may beincluded, for example, in a column decoder in the semiconductor memorydevice 200 a.

The plurality of I/O circuits 291 a, 291 b, 291 c and 291 d and 291 emay control connection between the memory blocks MB0, MB1, MB2 and MB3and the redundancy block RMB and the data I/O buffer 296 in response tothe first control signal CTL1. The column selection circuits 293 a˜293 emay connect one of the I/O circuits 291 a˜291 e to a respective one ofthe memory blocks MB0˜MB3 and the redundancy block RMB.

The unit repair controllers 401 a˜401 d and the redundancy repaircontroller 401 e may commonly receive the access column address (i.e., acolumn address) CADDR and may provide the corresponding column selectioncircuits 293 a˜293 e with the column selection line signals CSLa˜CSLeapplied to the memory blocks MB0, MB1, MB2 and MB3 and the redundancyblock RMB. For example, at a given time, the same access column addressmay be transmitted to each of the unit repair controllers 401 a˜401 e.Based on the state of and the information stored in each unit repaircontroller 401 a˜401 e, an output is transmitted to each respectivecolumn selection circuit 293 a˜293 e, which is used to select a columnfor memory access.

When the memory blocks MB0, MB1, MB2 and MB3 do not include a fail cell,the I/O circuit 291 e cuts off a connection between the redundancy blockRMB and the data I/O buffer 296 in response to the first control signalCTL1 and the I/O circuits 291 a˜291 d may transfer data DQ from thememory blocks MB0, MB1, MB2 and MB3 to the data I/O buffer 296 or maytransfer data DQ from the data I/O buffer 296 to the memory blocks MB0,MB1, MB2 and MB3 through the column selection transistors 294 a˜294 d inresponse to the first control signal CTL1. In this case, in each of thememory blocks MB0, MB1, MB2 and MB3, a bit-line or bit-lines at a sameposition (e.g., a same relative position within each memory block) maybe selected in response to a corresponding one of the column selectionline signals CSLa˜CSLd, and the semiconductor memory device 200 a maysimultaneously input and output data having a size corresponding to aburst length of the semiconductor memory device 200 a.

When at least one of the memory blocks MB0, MB1, MB2 and MB3 includes atleast one fail cell, the I/O circuit 291 e is connected to theredundancy block RMB in response to the first control signal CTL1 and arepair operation on the at least one fail cell may be performed.

For example, when each of the memory blocks MB0, MB2 and MB3 includes atleast one fail cell on a first bit-line that would normally be selectedby a column selection line signal CSL0, the fail cell in the memoryblock MB0 is repaired by a normal cell in the memory block MB0 byenabling a column selection line signal CSL3 instead of the columnselection line signal CSL0 as a reference numeral 511 indicates. Forexample, the column selection transistor 294 c instead of the columnselection transistor 294 a is connected to the memory block MB0 and thedata I/O buffer 291 a by enabling the column selection line signal CSL3instead of the column selection line signal CSL0. As described furtherbelow, a respective unit repair controller may cause the enabling of thecolumn selection line signal CSL3 instead of the column selection linesignal CSL0. In addition, the normal cell (e.g., non-redundancy cell,which in this example is not a fail cell) in the memory block MB0 isreplaced by a redundancy cell in the redundancy block RMB by selecting aredundancy bit-line instead of the bit-line in the memory block MB0 as areference numeral indicates 512. For example, the repair control circuit400 a may repair the first fail cell with the first normal cell byenabling the column selection line signal CSL3 to select a secondbit-line coupled to the first normal cell instead of enabling the columnselection line signal CSL0 to select a first bit-line coupled to thefirst fail cell.

It is assumed that the memory block MB1 does not include a fail cell inany of the memory blocks, and so none of the columns of memory block MB1need to be reassigned to or replaced with other columns.

The fail cell in the memory block MB2 is repaired by a normal cell inthe memory block MB2 by enabling a column selection line signal CSL2instead of the column selection line signal CSL0 as a reference numeral513 indicates. In addition, the normal cell in the memory block MB2 isreplaced by a redundancy cell in the redundancy block RMB by selecting aredundancy bit-line instead of the bit-line in the memory block MB2 as areference numeral indicates 514. The fail cell in the memory block MB3is repaired by a redundancy cell in the redundancy block RMB byselecting a redundancy bit-line instead of the bit-line in the memoryblock MB3 as a reference numeral indicates 515.

FIG. 4A is a block diagram illustrating an example of a first unitrepair controller in the semiconductor memory device of FIG. 3 accordingto exemplary embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 4A, a first unit repair controller 401 a may include atable pointer 405, an address storage table 420, a column addresscomparator 430, a selection circuit 440 and a column selection linedriver 450.

The table pointer 405 may generate a table pointing signal TPS togglingin response to the column address CADDR which changes sequentially. Theaddress storage table 420 may store at least one source column addressSRCA and at least one destination column address DSCA corresponding tothe at least one source column address SRCA as fuse information.

The column address comparator 430 compares the access column addressCADDR with the source column address SRCA from the address storage table420 and outputs a first match signal MTH1 indicating a result of thecomparison. The selection circuit 440 may select one of the destinationcolumn address DSCA from the address storage table 420 and the accesscolumn address CADDR in response to the first match signal MTH1 tooutput a selected one as a target column address CA. The columnselection line driver 450 may output the column selection line signalCSLa for selecting (enabling) a bit-line corresponding to the targetcolumn address CA.

When the access column address CADDR does not match the source columnaddress SRCA, the selection circuit 440 may output the access columnaddress CADDR as the target column address CA in response to the firstmatch signal MTH1 (e.g., having a first value). When the access columnaddress CADDR matches the source column address SRCA, the selectioncircuit 440 may output the destination column address DSCA as the targetcolumn address CA in response to the first match signal MTH1 (e.g.,having a second value). Therefore, when a column address of a bit-linecoupled to the at least one fail cell in the memory block MB0 is storedin the address storage table 420 as the source column address SRCA andas fuse information and a column address of a bit-line coupled to thenormal cell replacing the fail cell in the memory block MB0 is stored inthe address storage table 420 as the destination column address DSCA andas fuse information, the fail cell in the memory block MB0 is repaired,and therefore replaced, with the normal cell in the memory block MB. Inaddition, the normal cell may be replaced with or reassigned to aredundancy cell in the redundancy block RMB.

In an exemplary embodiment, the selection circuit 440 may be configuredas an address converting circuit that performs XOR operation on someupper bits of the access column address CADDR and bits of thedestination column address DSCA, in response to the match signal MTH1.For example, when the access column address CADDR includes six bits andthe destination column address DSCA includes three bits, the addressconverting circuit performs XOR operation on upper three bits of theaccess column address CADDR and three bits of the destination columnaddress DSCA to output the target column address in response to thematch signal MTH1 having a logic high level.

Configurations of each of the unit repair controllers 401 b, 401 c and401 d in FIG. 3 may be substantially the same as the configuration ofthe first unit repair controller 401 a of FIG. 4A.

FIG. 4B is a circuit diagram illustrating an example of the columnselection line driver in the first unit repair controller in FIG. 4A.

Referring to FIG. 4B, the column selection line driver 450 may includedriving transistors 451, 452, 423 and 454, inverters 455 and 456 and aNAND gate 457.

The NAND gate 457 performs a NAND operation on the target column addressCA and an enabling master signal PCSLE. The driving transistor 451 has asource coupled to the power supply voltage VDD, a gate receiving anoutput of the NAND gate 457 and a drain coupled to a first node NO1. Thedriving transistor 452 includes a drain coupled to the first node NO1, agate receiving a disabling master signal PCSLD and a source coupled tothe driving transistor 453. The driving transistor 453 includes a draincoupled to the driving transistor 452, a gate receiving the output ofthe NAND gate 457 and a source coupled to a ground voltage VSS.

The inverter 455 inverts a logic level at the first node NO1 to provideits output at a second node NO2 and the inverter 456 inverts a logiclevel at the second node NO2 to output the column selection line signalCSLa. The driving transistor 454 includes a drain coupled to the firstnode NO1, a gate coupled to the second node No2 and a source coupled tothe ground voltage VSS.

When the target column address CA is applied with a logic high level,and the enabling master signal PCSLE is applied with a logic high level,the output of the NAND gate 457 becomes a logic low level. Therefore,the driving transistor 451 is turned on, and the driving transistor 453is turned off. Therefore, the first node NO1 becomes a high level, thedriving transistor 454 is turned off, and the inverter 456 outputs thecolumn selection line signal CSLa having a high level.

When the target column address CA is applied with a logic low level, andthe enabling master signal PCSLE is applied with a logic high level, theoutput of the NAND gate 457 becomes a logic high level. Therefore, thedriving transistor 451 is turned off, and the driving transistors 452and 453 are turned on. Therefore, the inverter 456 outputs the columnselection line signal CSLa having a low level. The enabling mastersignal PCSLE and the disabling master signal PCSLD may be provided froma pre-decoder in the repair control circuit 400 a or a column decoderincluding the repair control circuit 400 a. The pre-decoder may controllogic levels of the enabling master signal PCSLE and the disablingmaster signal PCSLD by referring fuse information associated with thefail cell and fuse information associated with column selection lineinformation stored in a fuse circuit included in the redundancy repaircontroller 401 e. Therefore, the repair control circuit 400 a may selectthe first normal cell instead of the first fail cell and may select thefirst redundancy cell instead of the first normal cell by controllingthe enabling master signal PCSLE and the disabling master signal PCSLD.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the redundancyrepair controller in the semiconductor memory device of FIG. 3 accordingto exemplary embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 5, the redundancy repair controller 401 e includes atable pointer 460, a fuse circuit 480 and a redundancy column selectionline driver 470.

The table pointer 460 generates a table pointing signal TPS toggling inresponse to the column address CADDR which changes sequentially. Thefuse circuit 480 stores column selection line information associatedwith each of redundancy bit-lines in the redundancy block RMB. The fusecircuit 480 stores information of the memory blocks MB3, MB2 and MB0which are repaired when the column selection line signals CSL0, CSL2 andCSL3 are enabled respectively.

The redundancy column selection line driver 470 may output theredundancy column selection line signal CSLe to select some of theredundancy bit-lines in response to the table pointing signal TPS and byreferring to the column selection line information in the fuse circuit480.

Therefore, referring to FIGS. 3 through 5, the repair control circuit400 a repairs the first fail cell with the first normal cell in the samememory block and replaces the first normal cell with a first redundancycell in the redundancy block.

FIG. 6A illustrates a repair operation performed in the semiconductormemory device of FIG. 3, according to one embodiment.

In FIG. 6A, it is assumed that a repair condition of the memory cellarray 301 corresponds to a condition as indicated by a reference numeral521. The repair condition of the memory cell array 301 may be determinedby considering a location of the fail cell in each of the memory blocksMB0˜MB3. The repair condition may be determined such that redundancyresources to repair the fail cell or replace the normal cell in thememory blocks MB0, MB2 and MB3 are not overlapped, and burst operationof the semiconductor memory device 200 a may be supported.

Referring to FIGS. 3 through 6A, when CSL0 operation 522 in each of thememory blocks MB0˜MB3 is designated by the access column address CADDR,the first normal cell corresponding to the CSL3 instead of the fail cellis selected in the memory block MB0 (for example, the column selectiontransistor 294 d instead of the column selection transistor 294 d in thememory block MB0 is turned-on), a normal cell corresponding to the CSL0is selected in the memory block MB1, a normal cell corresponding to CSL2instead of the fail cell is selected in the memory block MB2, and aredundancy cell corresponding to CSL0 is selected instead of the failcell in the memory block MB3. During CSL0 operation, a repair operationto repair the fail cell with a corresponding normal cell is performed ineach of the memory blocks MB0 and MB2.

When CSL1 operation 523 in each of the memory blocks MB0˜MB3 isdesignated by the access column address CADDR, a normal cellcorresponding to CSL1 is selected in each of the memory blocks MB0˜MB3.When CSL2 operation 524 in each of the memory blocks MB0˜MB3 isdesignated by the access column address CADDR, a normal cellcorresponding to CSL2 is selected in each of the memory blocks MB0, MB1and MB3 and a redundancy cell corresponding to CSL2 in the redundancyblock RMB is selected instead of a normal cell corresponding to CSL2being selected in the memory block MB2.

When CSL3 operation 525 in each of the memory blocks MB0˜MB3 isdesignated by the access column address CADDR, a normal cellcorresponding to CSL3 is selected in each of the memory blocks MB1, MB2and MB3 and a redundancy cell corresponding to CSL3 in the redundancyblock RMB is selected instead of a normal cell corresponding to CSL3being selected in the memory block MB0. In this manner, and inconnection with FIGS. 1-5 above, a repair control circuit is configuredto cause a second column of normal memory cells of a first memory block(e.g., the column numbered 3 of MB0) to serve as a destination columnfor a first column of normal memory cells of the first memory block(e.g., the column numbered 0 of MB0), and to cause a first column ofredundancy memory cells of the redundancy memory block (e.g., the columnnumbered 3 of RMB) to store data destined for the second column ofnormal memory cells of the first memory block. The first column may be acolumn of the first memory block that has at least one failed memorycell. For read operations, the repair control circuit may be configuredto cause the second column of normal memory cells of the first memoryblock to serve as a destination read column for the first column ofnormal memory cells of the first memory block, and to cause the firstcolumn of redundancy memory cells of the redundancy memory block toserve as a destination read column for the second column of normalmemory cells of the first memory block. For write operations, the repaircontrol circuit reassigns data destined for the first failed column tothe second column, and reassigns data destined for the second column tothe redundancy block. A similar process may occur in memory block MB2.In this manner, a first memory cell in a first column of the firstmemory block may be repaired, and therefore replaced, using a normalmemory cell in a second column of the first memory block.

As discussed above, a fuse circuit (480) may be part of the repaircontrol circuit and may store a correlation between column select linesof the redundancy block and memory blocks of the plurality of memoryblocks. In addition, an address storage table may store source addressesand corresponding destination addresses for the repair control circuitto use when causing the second column of normal memory cells of thefirst memory block to serve as the destination column for the firstcolumn of normal memory cells of the first memory block. The repaircontrol circuit further uses the source addresses and correspondingdestination addresses when causing the first column of redundancy memorycells of the redundancy memory block to store data destined for thesecond column of normal memory cells of the first memory block. As shownin the example of FIG. 6A as well as other examples, the first column ofredundancy memory cells of the first redundancy block (e.g., the columnnumbered 3 of RMB) may have the same relative location within the firstredundancy block that the second column of the first memory block (e.g.,the column numbered 3 of MB0) has within the first memory block.Similarly, a second column of redundancy memory cells of the firstredundancy block (e.g., the column numbered 2 of RMB) may have the samerelative location within the first redundancy block that a second columnof a second memory block (e.g., the column numbered 2 of MB2, used torepair a fail cell in column 0 of MB2) has within the second memoryblock. The second column of the first memory block (e.g., column 3 ofMB0) may have a different relative location within the first memoryblock from the second column of the second memory block within thesecond memory block (e.g., column 2 of MB 2).

FIG. 6B illustrates a repair operation performed in the semiconductormemory device of FIG. 2B.

Referring to FIGS. 2B and 6B, a repair condition 521 a of the memorycell array 301 is as follows. The memory block MB0 includes a fail cellassociated with a column selection line signal CSL1, and therebyassociated with a first column of the memory block MB0, the fail cell inthe memory block MB0 is repaired with a first normal cell by enabling acolumn selection line signal CSL3 associated with a second column of thememory block MB0, instead of the column selection line signal CSL1 as areference numeral 511 a indicates. The first normal cell in the memoryblock MB0 is replaced with a second normal cell in the memory block MB1different from the MB0 as a reference numeral 512 a indicates, and thesecond normal cell in the memory block MB1 is replaced with a firstredundancy cell in the redundancy block RMB as reference numerals 513 a,514 a and 515 a indicate. The repair control circuit 400 a repairs thefirst fail cell in the first memory block MB0 with the first normal cellin the first memory block MB0, replaces the first normal cell with thesecond normal cell in the second memory block MB1 different from thefirst memory block MB0, replaces the second normal cell with the thirdnormal cell in the third memory block MB2 different from the secondmemory block MB1, replaces the third normal cell with the fourth normalcell in the fourth memory block MB3 different from the third memoryblock MB2 and replaces the fourth normal cell with the first redundancycell in the redundancy block RMB. The first normal cell, the secondnormal cell, the third normal cell, the fourth normal cell and the firstredundancy cell may have a same column selection line address. In thismanner, the first normal memory cell (e.g., in the column numbered 3 inmemory block MB0) is replaced by using the first redundancy memory cell(e.g., in the column numbered 3 in redundancy block RMB) through a shiftoperation. For example, the shift operation may include replacing thesecond normal cell (e.g., in the column numbered 3 of the memory blockMB0) with a third normal memory cell in a first column of a secondmemory block of the memory device (e.g., in the column numbered 3 of thememory block MB1), and then replacing one column of memory cells eachmemory block other than a final memory block of the plurality of memoryblocks with one column of memory cells from an adjacent memory block,and replacing one column in the final memory block of the plurality ofmemory blocks with a first column of redundancy memory cells of theredundancy block.

When CSL0 operation 526 in each of the memory blocks MB0˜MB3 and theredundancy block RMB is designated by the access column address CADDR, anormal cell corresponding to the CSL0 is selected in each of the memoryblocks MB0˜MB3. When CSL1 operation 527 in each of the memory blocksMB0˜MB3 and the redundancy block RMB is designated by the access columnaddress CADDR, the first normal cell corresponding to CSL3 instead ofthe first fail cell corresponding to CSL1 is selected in the memoryblock MB0 and a normal cell corresponding to CSL1 is selected in in eachof the memory blocks MB1˜MB3.

When CSL3 operation 528 in each of the memory blocks MB0˜MB3 and theredundancy block RMB is designated by the access column address CADDR, asecond normal cell corresponding to CSL3 in the memory block MB1 isselected instead of the first normal cell corresponding to CSL3 in thememory block MB0, a third normal cell corresponding to CSL3 in thememory block MB2 is selected instead of the second normal cellcorresponding to CSL3 in the memory block MB1, a fourth normal cellcorresponding to CSL3 in the memory block MB3 is selected instead of thethird normal cell corresponding to CSL3 in the memory block MB2, and thefirst redundancy cell corresponding to CSL3 is selected in theredundancy block RMB instead of the fourth normal cell corresponding toCSL3 in the memory block MB3. Therefore, the semiconductor memory device200 a may use redundancy resources in the redundancy block RMB withsupporting data input/output having a size corresponding to a burstlength.

FIG. 6C illustrates data input/out when the repair operation in FIG. 6Ais performed.

Referring to FIG. 6C, when the repair condition the memory cell array301 corresponds to the condition as indicated by the reference numeral521, data, which are selected in the memory blocks MB0˜MB3 and theredundancy block RMB by column selection circuits 293 a˜293 e and theselection circuits 2911˜2915 in the I/O gating circuit 290 a, areprovided to the data I/O buffer 296 by unit of burst lengths BL0˜BL3.That is, the selection circuit 2911 may select output of one of thecolumn selection circuits 293 a and 293 e, the selection circuit 2912may select output of one of the column selection circuits 293 b and 293e, the selection circuit 2913 may select output of one of the columnselection circuits 293 c and 293 e, and the selection circuit 2914 mayselect output of one of the column selection circuits 293 d and 293 e.

In the CSL0 operation, the selection circuit 2911 may select data outputfrom the memory block MB0, the selection circuit 2912 may select dataoutput from the memory block MB1, the selection circuit 2913 may selectdata output from the memory block MB2, and the selection circuit 2914may select data output from the redundancy block RMB, in response to asignal {0, 0, 0, 1} from the selection circuit 2915.

FIG. 6D illustrates data input/out when the repair operation in FIG. 6Bis performed.

Referring to FIG. 6D, when the repair condition the memory cell array301 corresponds to the condition as indicated by the reference numeral521 a, data, which are selected in the memory blocks MB0˜MB3 and theredundancy block RMB by column selection circuits 293 a˜293 e and theselection circuits 2916˜2919 and 2915 in the I/O gating circuit 290 a,are provided to the data I/O buffer 296 by unit of burst lengthsBL0˜BL3. That is, the selection circuit 2916 may select output of one ofthe adjacent column selection circuits 293 a and 293 b, the selectioncircuit 2917 may select output of one of the adjacent column selectioncircuits 293 b and 293 c, the selection circuit 2918 may select outputof one of the adjacent column selection circuits 293 c and 293 d, andthe selection circuit 2919 may select output of one of the adjacentcolumn selection circuits 293 d and 293 e.

In the CSL4 operation, the selection circuit 2916 may select data outputfrom the memory block MB1, the selection circuit 2917 may select dataoutput from the memory block MB2, the selection circuit 2918 may selectdata output from the memory block MB3, and the selection circuit 2919may select data output from the redundancy block RMB, in response to asignal {1, 1, 1, 1} from the selection circuit 2915.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of the address storage table in the firstunit redundancy repair controller in FIG. 4A.

Referring to FIG. 7, the address storage table 420 includes a firststorage unit 421, a second storage unit 423 and a sensing unit 425. Thefirst storage unit 421, which may be a circuit, stores the source columnaddress SRCA to be repaired and the second storage unit 423, which maybe a circuit, stores the destination column address DSCA to replace thesource column address SRCA. The address storage table 420 may beimplemented as an anti-fuse array or a content addressable memory (CAM).The sensing unit 425 outputs the source column address SRCA and thedestination column address DSCA stored in a location (indicated by thepointer signal TPS) in the first storage unit 421 and the second storageunit 423 in response to on the pointer signal TPS. In FIG. 7, theaddress storage table 420 stores a column address CADDR1 associated withCSL0 and a column address CADDR4 associated with CSL3 as the sourcecolumn address SRCA and stores the column address CADDR4 to replace thecolumn address CADDR1 and a redundancy column address RCADDR4 to replacethe column address CADDR4 as the destination column address DSCA. Inthis manner, an address (CADDR1) of a first normal memory cell in afirst column of a first memory block is replaced with a destinationaddress that is an address (CADDR4) of a second normal memory cell in asecond column of the first memory block, and the address (CADDR4) of thesecond normal memory cell in the second column of the first memory blockis replaced with and reassigned to an address (RCADDR4) of a firstredundancy memory cell in a redundancy block of the memory device. Itshould be noted that in some embodiments, particularly where theredundancy block RMB has the same number of columns of memory cells asthe memory blocks MB0˜MB3, the address storing table does not need tostore the reassignment of the second normal memory cell to the firstredundant memory cell. A fuse circuit such as fuse circuit 480 of FIG. 5may be used to accomplish this reassignment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of the address storing tablein FIG. 7, according to one exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 8, the address storing table 420 may be implemented byan anti-fuse array including a plurality of anti-fuses 422. Theanti-fuses 422 have electrical characteristics that are opposite tothose of fuse elements. The anti-fuses 422 are resistive fuse elementsthat have a relatively high resistance value when they are notprogrammed and a relatively low resistance value when they areprogrammed. The address storing table 420 may store the source columnaddress SRCA and the destination column address DSCA by selectivelyprogramming the anti-fuses 422.

The sensing unit 425 includes first and second sub sensing units 4251and 4252 coupled respectively to the first and second storage units 421and 423. Each of the first and second sub sensing units 4251 and 4252may be implemented with an NMOS transistor 426. Therefore, the sensingunit 425 provides the source column address SRCA to the column addresscomparator 430, and provides the destination column address DSCA to theselection circuit 440, in response to the pointer signal TPS.

FIGS. 9A to 9C are diagrams for describing methods of replacing a failcell with a normal cell in the same memory block and replacing thenormal cell with a redundancy cell.

In FIGS. 9A to 9C, the memory block MB0 includes memory cells coupled toword-lines WL1˜WLu and bit-lines BTL1˜BTLv and the redundancy block RMBincludes redundancy cells coupled to the word-lines WL1˜WLu andredundancy bit-lines RBTL1˜RBTLv. In some embodiments, the number ofredundancy bit-lines in the redundancy block RMB is the same as thenumber of bit-lines in each of the normal memory blocks, such as MB0. Inother embodiments, however, the number of redundancy bit-lines in theredundancy block RMB may be smaller than or larger than the number ofbit-lines in each of the normal memory blocks.

FIG. 9A is a diagram for describing replacement between bit-lines. Forexample, when a fault occurs in a memory cell coupled to the word-lineWL1 and the bit-line BTL1, the bit-line BTL1 is replaced with thebit-line BTL4 and the bit-line BTL4 may be replaced with the redundancybit-line RBTL4.

FIG. 9B is a diagram for describing replacement between portions ofbit-lines (e.g., segments of bit-lines). A single bit-line may bedivided into two or more segments, each segment being connected to atleast one memory cell. For example, when a fault occurs in a memory cellcoupled to the word-line WL1 and the bit-line BTL1, a segment in thebit-line BTL1 is replaced with a segment in the bit-line BTL4 and thesegment in the bit-line BTL4 is replaced with a segment in theredundancy bit-line RBTL4.

FIG. 9C is a diagram for describing replacement between memory cells.For example, when a fault occurs in a memory cell coupled to theword-line WL1 and the bit-line BTL1, the memory cell having the fault isreplaced with a memory cell coupled to the bit-line BTL4 and the memorycell coupled to the bit-line BTL4 is replaced with a redundancy cellcoupled to the redundancy bit-line RBTL4.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating a method of operating asemiconductor memory device according to exemplary embodiments.

Referring to FIGS. 2A to 10, in a method of operating a semiconductormemory device including a memory cell array that includes a plurality ofmemory blocks and at least one redundancy block, the repair controlcircuit 400 a repairs a first fail cell in a first memory block of theplurality of memory blocks with a first normal cell in the first memoryblock (S100). Before repairing the first fail cell in the first memoryblock with the first normal cell in the first memory block, the repaircontrol circuit 400 a may determine whether an access column addressmatches a first column address designating a first bit-line coupled tothe first fail cell. When the access column address matches with thefirst column address (source column address), the repair control circuit400 a performs the repair operation.

The first fail cell in the first memory block and the first normal cellin the first memory block may have different column selection lineaddresses. For example, the first fail cell and the first normal cell inthe first memory block are coupled to different bit-lines selected bydifferent column selection line (CSL) signals. The first fail cell andthe first normal cell in the first memory block may be connected to asame I/O circuit. The repair control circuit 400 a replaces the firstnormal cell in the first memory block with a first redundancy cell inthe redundancy block (S200). The first normal cell and the firstredundancy cell may have a same column selection line address. The firstnormal cell and the first redundancy cell may be connected to differentI/O circuits, respectively.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating another example of thesemiconductor memory device in the memory system of FIG. 1 according toexemplary embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 11, a semiconductor memory device 200 b includes acontrol logic circuit 210, an address register 220, a bank control logic230, a refresh counter 245, a row address multiplexer 240, a columnaddress latch 250, a row decoder 260, a column decoder 270, a memorycell array 300, a sense amplifier unit 285, an I/O gating circuit 290,and a data I/O buffer 295.

In an exemplary embodiment, the semiconductor memory device 200 b mayinclude an error correction code (ECC) engine 280.

The control logic circuit 210, the repair control circuit 400 and thetiming control circuit 500 may constitute an access control circuit 205.

The memory cell array 300 includes first through eighth bank arrays310˜380. The row decoder 260 includes first through eighth bank rowdecoders 260 a˜260 h respectively coupled to the first through eighthbank arrays 310˜380, the column decoder 270 includes first througheighth bank column decoders 270 a˜270 h respectively coupled to thefirst through eighth bank arrays 310˜380, and the sense amplifier unit285 includes first through eighth bank sense amplifiers 285 a˜285 hrespectively coupled to the first through eighth bank arrays 310˜380.The first through eighth bank arrays 310˜380, the first through eighthbank row decoders 260 a˜260 h, the first through eighth bank columndecoders 270 a˜270 h and first through eighth bank sense amplifiers 285a˜285 h may form first through eighth banks. Each of the first througheighth bank arrays 310˜380 includes a plurality of memory cells MCformed at intersections of a plurality of word-lines WL and a pluralityof bit-lines BTL

The address register 220 receives an address ADDR including a bankaddress BANK_ADDR, a row address RADDR and a column address CADDR fromthe memory controller 100. The address register 220 provides thereceived bank address BANK_ADDR to the bank control logic 230, providesthe received row address RADDR to the row address multiplexer 240, andprovides the received column address CADDR to the column address latch250.

The bank control logic 230 generates bank control signals in response tothe bank address BANK_ADDR. One of the first through eighth bank rowdecoders 260 a˜260 h corresponding to the bank address BANK_ADDR isactivated in response to the bank control signals, and one of the firstthrough eighth bank column decoders 270 a˜270 h corresponding to thebank address BANK_ADDR is activated in response to the bank controlsignals.

The row address multiplexer 240 receives the row address RADDR from theaddress register 220, and receives a refresh row address REF_ADDR fromthe refresh counter 245. The row address multiplexer 240 selectivelyoutputs the row address RADDR or the refresh row address REF_ADDR as arow address RA. The row address RA that is output from the row addressmultiplexer 240 is applied to the first through eighth bank row decoders260 a˜260 h.

The activated one of the first through eighth bank row decoders 260a˜260 h, by the bank control logic 230, decodes the row address RA thatis output from the row address multiplexer 240, and activates aword-line corresponding to the row address RA. For example, theactivated bank row decoder applies a word-line driving voltage to theword-line corresponding to the row address RA. In addition, theactivated bank row decoder activates a spare word-line corresponding tothe spare row address SRA output from the repair control circuit 400simultaneously with activating the word-line corresponding to the rowaddress RA.

The column address latch 250 receives the column address CADDR from theaddress register 220, and temporarily stores the received column addressCADDR. In some embodiments, in a burst mode, the column address latch250 generates column addresses that increment from the received columnaddress CADDR. The column address latch 250 applies the temporarilystored or generated column address to the first through eighth bankcolumn decoders 270 a˜270 h.

The activated one of the first through eighth bank column decoders 270a˜270 h activates a sense amplifier corresponding to the bank addressBANK_ADDR and the column address CADDR through the I/O gating circuit290. Each of the first through eighth bank column decoders 270 a˜270 hmay include a repair control circuit, and the repair control circuitincluded in the activated one of the first through eighth bank columndecoders 270 a˜270 h may repair a fail cell in at least one memory blockof a corresponding bank array with a first normal cell in the samememory block and may replace the first normal cell with a firstredundancy cell in a redundancy block in the corresponding bank array.

The I/O gating circuit 290 includes a circuitry for gating input/outputdata, and further includes read data latches for storing data that isoutput from the first through eighth bank arrays 310˜380, and writedrivers for writing data to the first through eighth bank arrays310˜380.

Data read from one bank array of the first through eighth bank arrays310˜380 is sensed by a sense amplifier coupled to the one bank arrayfrom which the data is to be read, and is stored in the read datalatches. The data stored in the read data latches may be provided to thememory controller 100 via the data I/O buffer 295. The data to bewritten in one bank array of the first through eighth bank arrays310˜380 may be written in one bank array by the write drivers.

When the semiconductor memory device 200 b includes the ECC engine 280,the ECC engine 280 may perform an ECC encoding on data to be written toprovide a codeword to the I/O gating circuit 290 and may perform an ECCdecoding on a read codeword to provide corrected data to the data I/Obuffer 295.

The data I/O buffer 295 may provide the data DQ from the memorycontroller 100 to the ECC engine 280 in a write operation of thesemiconductor memory device 200 b, based on the clock signal CLK and mayprovide the data DQ from the ECC engine 280 to the memory controller 100in a read operation of the semiconductor memory device 200 b.

The control logic circuit 210 may control operations of thesemiconductor memory device 200. For example, the control logic circuit210 may generate control signals for the semiconductor memory device 200b in order to perform a write operation or a read operation. The controllogic circuit 210 includes a command decoder 211 that decodes a commandCMD received from the memory controller 100 and a mode register 212 thatsets an operation mode of the semiconductor memory device 200 b.

For example, the command decoder 211 may generate control signalscorresponding to the command CMD by decoding a write enable signal, arow address strobe signal, a column address strobe signal, a chip selectsignal, etc. The control logic circuit 210 provides a first controlsignal CTL1 to the I/O gating circuit 290 and provides a second controlsignal CTL2 to the ECC engine 280.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of the first bank array in thesemiconductor memory device of FIG. 11.

Referring to FIG. 12, the first bank array 310 includes a normal cellarray NCA and a redundancy cell array RCA. The normal cell array NCAincludes a plurality of word-lines WL1˜WLm (m is a natural numbergreater than two), a plurality of bit-lines BL1˜BLn (n is a naturalnumber greater than two), and a plurality of memory cells MCs disposedat intersections between the word-lines WL1˜WLm and the bit-linesBL1˜BLn. The redundancy cell array RCA includes a plurality ofredundancy cells RMCs disposed at intersections between the word-linesWL1˜WLm and a plurality of redundancy bit-lines RBTL1˜RBTLt.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a repair control circuitincluded in each of the bank column decoders in the semiconductor memorydevice of FIG. 12 according to exemplary embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 13, a repair control circuit 400 b may include a failaddress storage circuit 410, a row address comparator 415 and a unitrepair controller 402 a.

Although the repair control circuit 400 b is illustrated to include theunit repair controller 402 a, the repair control circuit 400 b mayinclude a plurality of unit repair controllers and a redundancy repaircontroller as illustrated in FIG. 15.

The fail address storage circuit 410 stores row address information FRAIand column address information FCAI of at least one defective cell(i.e., fail cell) occurring in the normal cell array of the memory cellarray 300. The fail address storage circuit 410 includes non-volatilememory devices to store the location information of the at least onedefective cell. For example, the fail address storage circuit 410 mayinclude anti-fuses to store the location information of the at least onedefective cell. The location information of the at least one defectivecell stored in the fail address storage circuit 410 may be updated.

For example, location information of defective cells that occur in thenormal cell array, caused when the semiconductor memory device 200 b iscontinuously used, may be updated in the fail address storage circuit410. In addition, location information of additional defective cellsoccurring after the semiconductor memory device 200 b is packaged may beupdated in the fail address storage circuit 410. Such locationinformation of defective cells may be obtained by testing whether a failbit occurs in the semiconductor memory device 200 b. The test may beperformed before the semiconductor memory device 200 b is packaged,i.e., at a wafer level, or may be performed after the semiconductormemory device 200 b is packaged. A post-package repair (PPR) may beperformed using the repair control circuit 400 according to exemplaryembodiments.

The location information of the at least one fail cell may be the rowaddress information FRAI and the column address information FCAI of theat least one defective cell.

The row address comparator 415 stores the row address information FRAIreceived from the fail address storage circuit 410. The row addresscomparator 420 may receive the row address information FRAI from thefail address storage circuit 410 simultaneously when the semiconductormemory device 200 b is driven or a desired time period after thesemiconductor memory device 200 b is driven. The row address comparator415 receives the row address RADDR of the access address ADDR, comparesthe row address RADDR with the row address information FRAI, and outputsa row match signal RM when the row address RADDR matches the row addressinformation FRAI.

The unit repair controller 402 a may include a table pointer 405, anaddress storage table 420 b, a column address comparator 430, an ANDgate 435, a selection circuit 440 and a column selection line driver450.

The address storage table 420 b may sequentially store column addressinformation FCAI of fail cells and column address information of firstnormal cells to repair the fail cells as the source column address SRCAand may sequentially store the column address information of the firstnormal cells and column address information of second normal cells torepair the first normal cells as the destination column address DSCA.The table pointer 405 may generate, to the address storage table 420 b,a table pointing signal TPS toggling in response to the access columnaddress CADDR that sequentially changes. The address storage table 420 bmay output the source column address SRCA and the destination columnaddress DSCA corresponding to the source column address SRCA in responseto the table pointing signal TPS.

The column address comparator 430 compares the access column addressCADDR with the source column address SRCA from the address storage table420 b and outputs a first match signal MTH1 indicating a result of thecomparison. The AND gate 435 performs an AND operation on the row matchsignal RM and the first match signal MTH1 to output a second matchsignal MTH2. The selection circuit 440 may select one of the destinationcolumn address DSCA from the address storage table 420 and the accesscolumn address CADDR in response to the second match signal MTH2 tooutput a selected one as a target column address CA. The columnselection line driver 450 may output the column selection line signalCSLa for selecting (enabling) a bit-line corresponding to the targetcolumn address CA.

For example, when the row match signal RM is a low level or when theaccess column address CADDR does not match the source column addressSRCA, the selection circuit 440 may output the access column addressCADDR as the target column address CA in response to the second matchsignal MTH2. For example, when the row match signal RM is a high leveland when the access column address CADDR matches the source columnaddress SRCA, the selection circuit 440 may output the destinationcolumn address DSCA as the target column address CA in response to thesecond match signal MTH2.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example of the fail address storage table in therepair control circuit of FIG. 13.

Referring to FIG. 14, the fail address storing table 410 includesanti-fuse array 411, a control unit 412, a sensing unit 413 and aregister unit 414.

The anti-fuse array 411 includes p*q anti-fuses (AFs) which arerespectively connected to intersections of p rows and q columns. Theanti-fuse array 411 includes p word-lines AWL1 to AWLp for accessinganti-fuses (AFs) disposed at the p rows, and q bit-lines ABL1 to ABLqdisposed to correspond to q columns so as to deliver information readfrom the anti-fuses (AFs).

The control unit 412 programs the location information of fail cells inthe anti-fuse array 411 or reads the location information of fail cellsfrom the anti-fuse array 412. The sensing unit 413 may sense and amplifythe location information of fail cells received from the anti-fuse array411 and output a result of the amplifying. The register unit 414 maytemporarily store the location information of fail cells received fromthe sensing unit 413. The register unit 414 outputs the row addressinformation FRAI and column address information FCAI of the fail cells,to the row address comparator 420 and the address storage table 420 b,respectively.

FIG. 15 illustrates a portion of the semiconductor memory device of FIG.11.

In FIG. 15, the first bank array 310, the I/O gating circuit 290, thecolumn decoder 270 a and the data I/O buffer are illustrated.

Referring to FIG. 15, the first bank array 310 includes a normal cellarray NCA and a redundancy cell array RCA. The normal cell array NCAincludes a plurality of memory blocks MB0˜MB15, i.e., 311˜313, and theredundancy cell array RCA includes at least one redundancy block 314.The memory blocks 311˜313 are memory blocks determining a memorycapacity of the semiconductor memory device 200 b. The redundancy block314 is for redundancy repair.

In each of the memory blocks 311˜313, a plurality of memory cells arearranged in rows and columns. In the redundancy block 314, a pluralityof redundancy cells are arranged in rows and columns.

The gating circuit 290 includes a plurality of I/O circuits 292 a˜292 dand a plurality of column selection circuits 296 a˜296 d and the columnselection circuits 296 a˜296 d may connect one of the I/O circuits 292a˜292 d to respective one of the memory blocks 311, 312 and 313 and theredundancy block 314. Each of the column selection circuits 296 a˜296 dmay include a plurality of column selection transistors 297 a˜297 h, andthe plurality of column selection transistors 297 a˜297 h connect aplurality of bit-lines or a bit-line in a corresponding memory block orin the redundancy block 314 to a corresponding I/O circuit in responseto column selection line signals CSLa˜CSLg respectively. The pluralityof I/O circuits 291 a˜291 e may be coupled to the data I/O buffer 296through data lines (not illustrated) in response to the first controlsignal CTL1 from the control logic circuit 210. For example, when acolumn selection line signal applied to the column selection transistor297 a, a bit-line or bit-lines coupled to the column selectiontransistor 297 a in each of the memory blocks 311˜313 and the redundancyblock may be simultaneously selected. When a column selection linesignal applied to the column selection transistor 297 h, a bit-line orbit-lines coupled to the column selection transistor 297 h in each ofthe memory blocks 311˜313 and the redundancy block may be simultaneouslyselected.

The column decoder 270 a may include a pre-decoder (not illustrated), aplurality of unit repair controllers 402 a˜402 c and a redundancy repaircontroller 402 d. The pre-decoder may decode the access column addressCADDR to commonly provide a decoded column address to the plurality ofunit repair controllers 402 a˜402 c and the redundancy repair controller402 d.

The unit repair controllers 402 a˜402 c and the redundancy repaircontroller 402 d may commonly receive the access column address CADDR orthe decoded column address and may provide the corresponding columnselection circuits 296 a˜296 d with the column selection line signalsCSLa˜CSLg applied to the memory blocks 311˜313 and the redundancy block314.

The repair control circuit 400 b repairs at least one fail cell in atleast one of the memory blocks 311˜313 with a first normal cell in thesame memory block, replaces the first normal cell with a second normalcell in the same memory block and replaces the second normal cell with afirst redundancy cell in the redundancy block 314. Therefore, the repaircontrol circuit 400 b may use redundancy resources in the redundancyblock 314 with a substantial maximum efficiency.

FIG. 16A illustrates a repair operation performed in the semiconductormemory device of FIG. 15.

Referring to FIG. 16A, a repair condition 541 of the first bank array310 is as follows. Each of the memory blocks MB0 and MB15 includes afail cell on a bit-line selected by a column selection line signal CSL0.The fail cell in the memory block MB0 is repaired by a first normal cellin the memory block MB0 by enabling a column selection line signal CSL3instead of the column selection line signal CSL0 as a reference numeral531 indicates, replaces the first normal cell in the memory block MB0 byenabling a column selection line signal CSL7 instead of the columnselection line signal CSL3 as a reference numeral 532 indicates, andreplaces the second normal cell in the memory block MB0 with acorresponding redundancy cell in the redundancy block 314 as a referencenumeral 533 indicates. In addition, the fail cell associated with theCSL0 in the memory block MB15 is repaired with a correspondingredundancy cell in the redundancy block 314 as a reference numeral 534indicates.

When CSL0 operation 542 in each of the memory blocks 311˜314 isdesignated by the access column address CADDR, a first normal cellcorresponding to the CSL3 instead of the fail cell is selected in thememory block MB0, a normal cell corresponding to the CSL0 is selected inthe memory block MB1, and a redundancy cell corresponding to CSL0 isselected instead of the fail cell in the memory block MB15.

When CSL3 operation 543 in each of the memory blocks 311˜314 isdesignated by the access column address CADDR, a second normal cellcorresponding to CSL7 is selected instead of the first normal cell inthe memory block, a normal cell corresponding to CSL3 is selected in thememory block MB1 and a normal cell normal cell corresponding to CSL3 isselected in the memory block MB15.

When CSL7 operation 544 in each of the memory blocks 311˜314 isdesignated by the access column address CADDR, a correspondingredundancy cell corresponding to CSL7 is selected instead of a normalcell corresponding to CSL7 in the memory block MB0, a normal cellcorresponding to CSL7 is selected in the memory block MB1 and a normalcell normal cell corresponding to CSL7 is selected in the memory blockMB15.

As can be seen in FIG. 16A, similar to FIG. 6A, the repair controlcircuit is configured to replace a first normal memory cell in a firstcolumn of the first memory block (e.g., a cell in the column numbered 3in memory block MB0) with a second normal memory cell in a second columnof the first memory block (e.g., a cell in the column numbered 7 inmemory block MB0), and to replace the second normal memory cell of thesecond column of the first memory block by using a first redundancymemory cell in a first column of redundancy memory cells of the firstredundancy block (e.g., the column numbered 7 in redundancy block RMB).In this example, replacing the second normal memory cell by using thefirst redundancy memory cell includes causing the first redundancymemory cell to store data destined for the second normal memory cell. Asfurther shown in FIG. 16, the repair circuit is further configured torepair a failed memory cell in another column of the first memory block(e.g., the column numbered 0 in memory block MB0) with the first normalmemory cell (e.g., the cell in the column numbered 3 in memory blockMB0).

FIG. 16B illustrates another example of the first bank array in thesemiconductor memory device of FIG. 15.

In FIG. 16B, each size of memory blocks MB0˜MB3 is greater than a sizeof a redundancy block RMB2 in a first bank array 310 b whereas each sizeof the memory blocks MB0˜MB15 is the same as a size of the redundancyblock RMB in the first bank array 310 in FIG. 16A. Each size of thememory blocks MB0˜MB3 is two times greater than the size of theredundancy block RMB2 in the first bank array 310 b inn FIG. 16B.

In FIG. 16B, each of the memory blocks MB0˜MB3 may be divided into anupper block corresponding to CSL0˜CSL3 and a lower block correspondingto CSL4˜CSL7 based on a most significant bit (MSB) of the access columnaddress. When fail cells are distributed as in FIG. 16B, the burstoperation of the semiconductor memory device 200 b may be supported bydetermining a repair condition such that fail cells in the memory blocksMB0, MB1 and MB2 and redundancy resources in the redundancy block RMBare not overlapped by processing don't care of the MSB of the accesscolumn address.

That is, fuse information FI MB1 associated with the memory block MB1 isset to select a normal cell corresponding to CSL5 instead of the failcell corresponding to CSL4 and fuse information FI MB2 associated withthe memory block MB2 is set to select a normal cell corresponding toCSL2 instead of the fail cell corresponding to CSL0. In addition, whenCSL0 and CSL4 are designated in each of the memory blocks MB0˜MB3, aredundancy cell corresponding to CSL0 is selected in the redundancyblock RMB2. A fuse circuit 480 b may store fuse information MB_L, MB1_H,and MB2_H for CSL0, CSL1 and CSL2 operations, respectively.

FIG. 16C illustrates another example of the first bank array in thesemiconductor memory device of FIG. 15.

In FIG. 16C, each size of the memory blocks MB0˜MB7 is the same as asize of a redundancy block RMB3 in a first bank array 310 c.

Referring to FIG. 16C, the first bank array 310 c may include aplurality of memory blocks MB0˜MB7 and a redundancy block RMB3.

The memory block MB0 includes first and second fail cells on bit-linesselected by column selection line signal CSL0 and CSL1 and theredundancy memory block RMB3 includes first and second fail redundancycells on bit-lines selected by the column selection line signal CSL0 andCSL1. The first fail cell in the memory block MB0 is repaired by a firstnormal cell in the memory block MB0 by enabling a column selection linesignal CSL3 instead of the column selection line signal CSL0. The firstnormal cell in the memory block MB0 is sequentially replaced by a secondnormal cell in each of the memory blocks MB1˜MB7 and a third redundancycell in the redundancy block RMB3. The first fail cell in the memoryblock MB0 is repaired by a first normal cell in the memory block MB0 byenabling a column selection line signal CSL3 instead of the columnselection line signal CSL0. The second fail cell in the memory block MB0is sequentially replaced by a second normal cell in each of the memoryblocks MB1˜MB7 and a second redundancy cell in the redundancy block RMB3and the second redundancy cell in the redundancy block RMB3 is replacedby a fourth redundancy cell in the redundancy block RMB3 because thesecond redundancy cell in the redundancy block RMB3 is a fail redundancycell.

In FIG. 16C, a burst operation of the semiconductor memory device 200 bmay be supported by determining a repair condition for repairing thefail cells in the memory block MB0 such that redundancy resources in theRMB3 are not overlapped.

That is, fuse information FI MB0 is set to select a normal cellcorresponding to CSL2 instead of the fail cell corresponding to the CSL0associated with the memory block MB0 and fuse information FI RMB3 is setto select the redundancy cell corresponding to CSL3 instead of the failredundancy cell corresponding to the CSL1 associated with the redundancycell RMB3. A fuse circuit 480 c may store fuse information for CSL1 andCSL2 respectively.

FIG. 17A illustrates an example of the address storage table in therepair control circuit of FIG. 13.

Referring to FIG. 17A, the address storage table 420 b includes a firststorage unit 421 b, a second storage unit 423 b and a sensing unit 425b. The first storage unit 421 b stores the source column address SRCA tobe repaired and the second storage unit 423 b stores the destinationcolumn address DSCA to replace the source column address SRCA. Theaddress storage table 420 b may be implemented as an anti-fuse array ora content addressable memory (CAM). The sensing unit 425 b outputs thesource column address SRCA and the destination column address DSCAstored in a location (indicated by the pointer signal TPS) in the firststorage unit 421 b and the second storage unit 423 b in response to onthe pointer signal TPS. In FIG. 17, the address storage table 420 bstores a column address CADDR1 associated with CSL0, a column addressCADDR4 associated with CSL3 and a column address CADDR8 associated withCSL7 as the source column address SRCA and stores the column addressCADDR4 to replace the column address CADDR1, the column address CADDR7to replace the column address CADDR4 and a redundancy column addressRCADDR4 to replace the column address CADDR8 as the destination columnaddress DSCA.

FIG. 17B illustrates an example that reduces a number of fusesassociated with a repair operation according to example embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 17B, a master fuse information MFB may include twobits and the master fuse information MFB may have one of ‘00’, ‘01’, 10′and ‘11’. In FIG. 17B, the master fuse information MFB is merged with afuse information FFI of fail cells.

In FIG. 17B, six bit fuse information may designate forty eightaddresses. For example, the master fuse information MFB of ‘00’ mayindicate that the repair operation is not applied, the master fuseinformation MFB of ‘01’, 10′ and ‘11’ may be used as information fordesignating fail cells. In addition, the fuse information FFI of failcells having four bits may designate sixteen addresses. That is, each ofthe master fuse information MFB of ‘01’, 10′ and ‘11’ merged with thefuse information FFI of fail cells may designate sixteen addresses, andsix bit fuse information may designate forty eight addresses. Whenthirty four addresses of the forty eight addresses are used, one of thesix bits of fuse information may be reduced.

FIG. 17C illustrates another example that reduces a number of fusesassociated with a repair operation according to example embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 17C, one of a source information SR and a destinationinformation DS may be merged with the master fuse information MFB. FIG.17C illustrates that the destination information DS is merged with themaster fuse information MFB and merged information MFB&DS is generated.The merged information MFB&DS includes three bits and source fuseinformation SRFI includes six bits. In FIG. 17C, one bit associated witha memory block MB is shared by two adjacent column blocks and a numberof fuses may be reduced.

FIG. 17D illustrates an example that implements the example of FIG. 17Cin detail.

Referring to FIG. 17D, master fuse information MFB′ merged with thedestination information, corresponding to the merged information MFB&DSin FIG. 17C may include three bits of pattern S[9] S[8]S[7]. When thepattern S[9] S[8]S[7] has a value of ‘000’, it denotes that the repairoperation is not used. When the pattern S[9] S[8]S[7] has a value otherthan ‘000’, the master fuse information MFB′ may include a portion ofbits of destination information or bits of address to designate a normalcell. As illustrated in FIG. 17D, a column address CADDR of a normalcell as the destination information may be obtained by selectivelyflipping upper three bits CA9, CA8 and CA7 of the source information.

FIG. 17E illustrates an example of a unit repair controller according toexample embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 17E, a unit repair controller 501 may include a columnaddress comparator 510, a normal decoder 520, a destination decoder 530,a multiplexer 540 and a column selection line driver 550.

The column address comparator 510 compares the access column addressCADDR and the source column address SRCA output from the address storagetable 420 b in FIG. 13 and outputs a hit signal HIT1 indicating a resultof comparison of the access column address CADDR and the source columnaddress SRCA. The normal decoder 520 decodes the access column addressCADDR in response to a column selection master signal PCSLM to output afirst decoded column address DCADDR.

The destination decoder 530 decodes the destination column address DSCAoutput from the address storage table 420 b in response to the columnselection master signal PCSLM to output a second decoded column addressDDSCA.

The multiplexer 540 selects one of the first decoded column addressDCADDR and the second decoded column address DDSCA in response to thehit signal HIT to output a selected one as the decoded target columnaddress DCA. The column selection line driver 550 receives the decodedtarget column address DCA and outputs the column selection line signalto select (activate) a bit-line corresponding to the decoded targetcolumn address DCA.

FIG. 17F illustrates another example of a unit repair controlleraccording to example embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 17F, a unit repair controller 502 may include a columnaddress comparator 515, an inverter 517, a multiplexer 545, a normaldecoder 525 and a column selection line driver 555.

The column address comparator 515 compares the access column addressCADDR with the source column address SRCA and additional bits AB1 andoutputs a hit signal HIT21 indicating a result of comparison of theaccess column address CADDR with the source column address SRCA and theadditional bits AB1. The additional bits AB1 may include four bits.

Three bits of the additional bits AB1 may correspond to the master fuseinformation MFB′ merged with the destination information DS as describedwith reference to FIG. 17C and one bit of the additional bits AB1 may bea bit shared by two adjacent column blocks.

The access column address CADDR may include upper bits CADDR_MSB andlower bits CADDR_LSB. The inverter 517 inverts the upper bits CADDR_MSBof the access column address CADDR. The multiplexer 545 outputs one ofan output of the inverter 517 and the lower bits CADDR_LSB of the accesscolumn address CADDR in response to the hit signal HIT21.

The normal decoder 525 decodes an output of the multiplexer 525 and thelower bits CADDR_LSB of the access column address CADDR in response tothe column selection master signal PCSLM to output the decoded targetcolumn address DCA. The column selection line driver 550 receives thedecoded target column address DCA and outputs the column selection linesignal CSL to select (activate) a bit-line corresponding to the decodedtarget column address DCA.

The upper bits CADDR_MSB of the access column address CADDR may be codedas illustrated in FIG. 17D.

The unit repair controller 501 of FIG. 17E and the unit repaircontroller 502 of FIG. 17F may be employed when a fail cell in a memoryblock is repaired with a normal cell in the same memory block.

FIG. 17G illustrates another example of a unit repair controlleraccording to example embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 17G, a unit repair controller 503 may include a columnaddress comparator 516, an inverter 517, a multiplexer 545, a normaldecoder 525 and a column selection line driver 555.

The column address comparator 516 compares the access column addressCADDR with the source column address SRCA and additional bits AB2 andoutputs a hit signal HIT22 indicating a result of comparison of theaccess column address CADDR with the source column address SRCA and theadditional bits AB2. The additional bits AB2 may include three bits.

The access column address CADDR may include upper bits CADDR_MSB andlower bits CADDR_LSB. The inverter 517 inverts the upper bits CADDR_MSBof the access column address CADDR. The multiplexer 545 outputs one ofan output of the inverter 517 and the lower bits CADDR_LSB of the accesscolumn address CADDR in response to the hit signal HIT22.

The normal decoder 525 decodes an output of the multiplexer 545 and thelower bits CADDR_LSB of the access column address CADDR in response tothe column selection master signal PCSLM to output the decoded targetcolumn address DCA. The column selection line driver 555 receives thedecoded target column address DCA and outputs the column selection linesignal CSL to select (activate) a bit-line corresponding to the decodedtarget column address DCA.

The upper bits CADDR_MSB of the access column address CADDR may be codedas illustrated in FIG. 17D.

The additional bit AB2 includes three bit because two adjacent memoryblocks share a fuse. In addition, the unit repair controller 503 of FIG.17G may be employed when a fail cell in a memory block is repaired witha normal cell in the same memory block.

FIG. 17H illustrates another example of a unit repair controlleraccording to example embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 17H, a unit repair controller 503 may include a columnaddress comparator 516, an inverter 517, a multiplexer 546, a decoder526, a column selection line driver 556, a column address comparator518, an inverter 519, a multiplexer 548, a decoder 527 and a columnselection line driver 557.

The column address comparator 515 compares the access column addressCADDR with the source column address SRCA and the additional bits AB1including four bits and outputs a hit signal HIT31 indicating a resultof a comparison of the access column address CADDR with the sourcecolumn address SRCA and the additional bits AB1.

The access column address CADDR may include upper bits CADDR_MSB andlower bits CADDR_LSB. The inverter 517 inverts the upper bits CADDR_MSBof the access column address CADDR.

The column address comparator 518 compares the access column addressCADDR with the source column address SRCA and the additional bits AB1and outputs a hit signal HIT32 indicating a result of comparison of theaccess column address CADDR with the source column address SRCA and theadditional bits AB1.

The inverter 519 inverts the upper bits CADDR_MSB of the access columnaddress CADDR.

The multiplexer 546 outputs one of an output of the inverter 517 and thelower bits CADDR_LSB of the access column address CADDR. The decoder 526decodes an output of the multiplexer 546 and the lower bits CADDR_LSB ofthe access column address CADDR to output the decoded target columnaddress DCA. The column selection line driver 556 receives the decodedtarget column address DCA and outputs the column selection line signalCSLa1 to select (activate) a bit-line corresponding to the decodedtarget column address DCA.

The multiplexer 548 outputs one of an output of the inverter 519 and thelower bits CADDR_LSB of the access column address CADDR. The decoder 527decodes an output of the multiplexer 548 and the lower bits CADDR_LSB ofthe access column address CADDR to output a decoded target columnaddress DCA′. The column selection line driver 557 receives the decodedtarget column address DCA′ and outputs the column selection line signalCSLa2 to select (activate) a bit-line corresponding to the decodedtarget column address DCA′.

The unit repair controller 504 of FIG. 17H may be employed when a failcell is repaired with a normal cell in two adjacent memory blocks.

FIG. 18 is a flow chart illustrating a method of operating asemiconductor memory device according to exemplary embodiments.

Referring to FIGS. 11 to 18, in a method of operating a semiconductormemory device 200 b including a memory cell array 300 that includes aplurality of memory blocks and at least one redundancy block, the repaircontrol circuit 400 b repairs a first fail cell in a first memory blockof the plurality of memory blocks with a first normal cell in the firstmemory block (S310). The repair control circuit 400 b repairs the firstfail cell with the first normal cell by swapping a first column addressdesignating a first bit-line coupled to the first fail cell with asecond column address designating a second bit-line coupled to the firstnormal cell. The repair control circuit 400 b replaces the first failcell in the first memory block of the plurality of memory blocks with asecond normal cell in the first memory block (S330). The first failcell, the first normal cell and the second normal cell in the firstmemory block may have different column selection line addresses. Forexample, the first fail cell, the first normal cell and the secondnormal cell in the first memory block are coupled to different bit-linesselected by different column selection line (CSL) signals. The firstfail cell, the first normal cell, and the second normal cell in thefirst memory block may be connected to a same I/O circuit.

The repair control circuit 400 a replaces the second normal cell in thefirst memory block with a first redundancy cell in the redundancy block(S350). The second normal cell and the first redundancy cell may have asame column selection line address, and may have the same relativelocation within the respective memory cell array. The second normal celland the first redundancy cell may be connected to different I/Ocircuits, respectively.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram illustrating a semiconductor memory deviceaccording to exemplary embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 19, a semiconductor memory device 600 may includefirst group dies 610 and second group dies 620 providing a soft erroranalyzing and correcting function in a stacked chip structure.

The first group die 610 may include at least one buffer die. The secondgroup dies 620 may include a plurality of memory dies 620-1 to 620-rwhich is stacked on the first group die 610 and conveys data through aplurality of through silicon via (TSV) lines.

At least one of the memory dies 620-1 to 620-r may include a first typeerror correction code (ECC) engine 622 which generates transmissionparity bits based on transmission data to be sent to the first group die610 and an error injection register set 623. The first type ECC engine622 may be referred to as ‘cell core ECC engine’.

The buffer die 610 may include a second type ECC engine 612 whichcorrects a transmission error using the transmission parity bits when atransmission error is detected from the transmission data receivedthrough the TSV lines and generates error-corrected data. The secondtype ECC engine 612 may be referred to as ‘via ECC engine’. The bufferdie 610 may include a repair control circuit 614 and the repair controlcircuit 614 may employ the repair control circuit 400 b of FIG. 13.

The semiconductor memory device 600 may be a stack chip type memorydevice or a stacked memory device which conveys data and control signalsthrough the TSV lines. The TSV lines may be also called ‘throughelectrodes’.

The first type ECC engine 622 may perform error correction on data whichis outputted from the memory die 620-p before the transmission data issent.

With the above description, a TSV line group 632 which is formed at onememory die 620-r may include a plurality of TSV lines L1 to Lp, and aparity TSV line group 634 may include a plurality of TSV lines L10 toLq. The TSV lines L1 to Lp of the data TSV line group 632 and the parityTSV lines L10 to Lq of the parity TSV line group 634 may be connected tomicro bumps MCB which are correspondingly formed among the memory dies620-1 to 620-r.

At least one of the memory dies 620-1 to 620-r may include DRAM cellseach including at least one access transistor and one storage capacitor.

The semiconductor memory device 600 may have a three-dimensional (3D)chip structure or a 2.5D chip structure to communicate with the memorycontroller through a data bus B10. The buffer die 610 may be connectedwith the memory controller through the data bus B10.

The first type ECC engine 622, denoted as the cell core ECC engine, mayoutput transmission parity bits as well as the transmission data throughthe parity TSV line group 634 and the data TSV line group 632respectively. The outputted transmission data may be data which iserror-corrected by the first type ECC engine 622.

The second type ECC engine 612, denoted as the via ECC engine, maydetermine whether a transmission error occurs at the transmission datareceived through the data TSV line group 632, based on the transmissionparity bits received through the parity TSV line group 634. When atransmission error is detected, the second type ECC engine 612 maycorrect the transmission error on the transmission data using thetransmission parity bits. When the transmission error is uncorrectable,the second type ECC engine 612 may output information indicatingoccurrence of an uncorrectable data error.

FIG. 20 is a cross-sectional view of a 3D chip structure employing thesemiconductor memory device of FIG. 19 according to exemplaryembodiments.

FIG. 20 shows a 3D chip structure 700 in which a host and ahigh-bandwidth memory (HBM) are directly connected without an interposerlayer.

Referring to FIG. 20, a host die 720 such as a system-on-chip (SoC), acentral processing unit (CPU), or a graphic processing unit (GPU) may bedisposed on a printed circuit board (PCB) 710 using flip chip bumps FB.Memory dies D11 to D14 may be stacked on the host die 720 to implement aHBM structure. In FIG. 20, the buffer die 610 or a logic die of FIG. 19is omitted. However, the buffer die 610 or the logic die may be disposedbetween the memory die D11 and the host die 710. To implement the HBM(620) structure, TSV lines may be formed at the memory dies D11 and D14.The TSV lines may be electrically connected with micro bumps MCB placedbetween memory dies.

Aspects of the present inventive concept may be applied to systems usingsemiconductor memory devices.

The foregoing is illustrative of exemplary embodiments and is not to beconstrued as limiting thereof. Although a few exemplary embodiments havebeen described, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate thatmany modifications are possible in the exemplary embodiments withoutmaterially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of thepresent inventive concept.

1. A method of replacing a memory cell in a first column of a memoryblock in a memory device including a plurality of memory blocks and atleast a first redundancy block, the method including: replacing anaddress of a first normal memory cell in a first column of a firstmemory block with a destination address that is an address of a secondnormal memory cell in a second column of the first memory block; andreassigning the address of the second normal memory cell in the secondcolumn of the first memory block to an address of a first redundancymemory cell in a redundancy block of the memory device.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein: the first normal memory cell is a failed cell, andreplacing the address of the first normal memory cell with thedestination address includes repairing the failed cell.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: repairing a failed memory cell in a thirdcolumn of the first memory block with the first normal memory cell. 4.The method of claim 1, wherein the first normal memory cell is accessedusing a first column select line, and the address of the first normalmemory cell includes an address of the first column select line, andfurther comprising: replacing the address of the first column selectline with an address of a second column select line that accesses thesecond normal memory cell in the second column.
 5. The method of claim1, further comprising: replacing the address of the first normal memorycell in the first column of the first memory block based on an addressstorage table that stores pairings of source addresses that correspondto source memory cells with destination addresses that correspond todestination memory cells.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein: the firstnormal memory cell is a failed cell, and replacing the address of thefirst normal memory cell with the destination address includes repairingthe failed cell, and the source addresses correspond to failed memorycells.
 7. The method of claim 5, further comprising: receiving a firstcolumn address for the first column; comparing the first column addressto a first column source address stored in the address storage table;and when the first column address matches a first column source addressstored in the address storage table, outputting a target address to acolumn select line driver, the target address being a first columndestination address corresponding to the first column source addressfrom the address storage table.
 8. The method of claim 5, wherein: theaddress storage table further stores pairings of destination addressesthat correspond to destination memory cells with redundancy addressesthat correspond to redundancy memory cells, and further comprising:reassigning an address of the second normal memory cell in the secondcolumn of the first memory block to a redundancy address paired with theaddress of the second normal memory cell.
 9. The method of claim 1,wherein: the reassigning is based on information relating to columnselect lines and memory blocks stored in a fuse circuit.
 10. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: replacing an address of a second normalmemory cell in a first column of a second memory block with an addressof a second destination memory cell in a second column of the secondmemory block, wherein the second destination memory cell is a normalmemory cell, and wherein: the first column of the first memory block andthe first column of the second memory block have the same relativelocation within their respective memory blocks, and the second column ofthe first memory block and the second column of the second memory blockhave a different relative location within their respective memoryblocks. 11-20. (canceled)
 21. A memory device, comprising: a pluralityof memory blocks including a first memory block, each memory blockincluding a plurality of columns of normal memory cells; at least afirst redundancy block, the first redundancy block including a pluralityof columns of redundancy memory cells; and a repair control circuit,wherein: the repair control circuit is configured to replace a firstnormal memory cell in a first column of the first memory block with asecond normal memory cell in a second column of the first memory block,and to replace the second normal memory cell of the second column of thefirst memory block by using a first redundancy memory cell in a firstcolumn of redundancy memory cells of the first redundancy block, andwherein: replacing the second normal memory cell by using the firstredundancy memory cell includes causing the first redundancy memory cellto store data destined for the second normal memory cell.
 22. The memorydevice of claim 21, wherein: the first column of redundancy memory cellsof the first redundancy block has the same relative location within thefirst redundancy block that the second column of the first memory blockhas within the first memory block.
 23. The memory device of claim 22,wherein: the first normal memory cell is a failed cell, and replacingthe first normal memory cell with the second normal memory cell includesrepairing the first normal memory cell.
 24. The memory device of claim21, wherein: the repair control circuit is configured to replace a thirdnormal memory cell in a first column of a second memory block of theplurality of memory blocks with a fourth normal memory cell in a secondcolumn of the second memory block, and to replace the fourth normalmemory cell of the second column of the second memory block by using afirst redundancy memory cell in a second column of redundancy memorycells of the first redundancy block.
 25. The memory device of claim 24,wherein: the first column of the first memory block has the samerelative location within the first memory block as the first column ofthe second memory block within the second memory block; and the secondcolumn of the first memory block has a different relative locationwithin the first memory block from the second column of the secondmemory block within the second memory block.
 26. The memory device ofclaim 25, wherein: the second column of the first memory block has thesame relative location within the first memory block as the first columnof redundancy memory cells of the first redundancy block; and the secondcolumn of the second memory block has the same relative location withinthe second memory block as the second column of redundancy memory cellsof the first redundancy block.
 27. The memory device of claim 21,wherein the repair control circuit is further configured to: repair afailed memory cell in another column of the first memory block with thefirst normal memory cell. 28-29. (canceled)
 30. A memory device,comprising: a plurality of normal memory blocks including a first memoryblock, each normal memory block including a plurality of columns ofnormal memory cells; at least a first redundancy block, the firstredundancy block including a plurality of columns of redundancy memorycells; a plurality of column select lines for selecting the plurality ofcolumns of the normal memory cells and the plurality of columns of theredundancy memory cells, each column select line associated with acolumn address; and a repair control circuit configured to: replace afirst source address with a first destination address, wherein the firstsource address is the address of a first column select line connected toa first column of memory cells of the first memory block, and the firstdestination address is the address of a second column select lineconnected to a second column of memory cells of the first memory block;and replace the address of the second column select line with an addressof a first column select line connected to a first column of theredundancy block.
 31. The memory device of claim 30, wherein: the firstcolumn of memory cells of the first memory block includes a failedmemory cell such that the first source address is a fail address. 32-33.(canceled)
 34. The memory device of claim 30, wherein: the second columnof memory cells of the first memory block has the same relative locationwith respect to the first memory block as the first column of theredundancy block has with respect to the redundancy block.